Wandless Magic

[cynthiaanncoe at home.com]

No: HPFGUIDX 24632

--- In HPforGrownups at y..., frantyck at y... wrote:
> There is another instance of wandless magic in PoA that left me 
> wondering briefly. When Harry and Fudge meet after his trip on the 
> Knight Bus, Tom, the host at the Leaky Cauldron, ushers them into a 
> parlour and lights the fire with a snap of his fingers.
> 
> I like Alfredo Ramirez's solution:
> 
> Actually, I don't think Dumbledore is actually doing magic here. I 
> get the feeling, that much like the food that appears and 
disappears 
> on plates, this is actually done by house-elves simply obeying 
their 
> master's orders. After all, decorations and cleaning do seem to 
fall 
> under the jurisdiction of our poor mistreated house-elves. :-)
> 
> JB
> 
> 
> but I was guessing in the case of Tom that the fireplaces were 
> charmed beforehand to light up when Tom snapped his fingers. Makes 
> things easier, doesn't it?
> 
> Or, does practice enable a wizard or witch to do simple and very 
> familiar spells without the aid of a wand? But this is an old 
topic...
> 
> Rrishi

Good thoughts.  Wizards seem only to be able to do simple spells 
without a wand.  In fact, Sirius makes this clear when he says he 
couldn't drive off the dementors without a wand.